HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team will embark on their final road trip of the season with a visit to Cal State San Marcos on Saturday, February 18. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. in The Sports Center in San Marcos.
 
This last meeting with the Cougars resulted in a double overtime thriller capped off by clutch shot after clutch shot before the buzzer as San Marcos escaped with a 109-108 victory in Pioneer Gymnasium.
 
The Pioneers (12-13, 5-12 CCAA) are currently battling Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State LA, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal Poly Pomona and Humboldt State continue to compete for the four remaining tournament spots.

 The Pioneers 12 wins are the most division II wins in school history since the 97-98 season. East Bay's 12 wins are also the most wins since joining the CCAA in 2009. 
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
Last week was Homecoming at Cal State East Bay, and the Pioneers closed out a week of "Rising in the East" with a pair of tough conference losses. On Friday, the fell to Sonoma State 64-55, who boasts the nations top-ranked defense.
 
But it was the Seawolves suffocating second half defense that ended up dictating the game as the Pioneers shot 21.7 percent from the floor and 10.0 percent from three-point range after the intermission, both season lows. Sonoma State would go on to outscore the East Bay 35-21 in the second half of action. Jalen Richard paced the Pioneers with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists. Richard shot 6-for-8 from the free throw line in 33 minutes of game action.
 
The following night, East Bay dropped a close overtime shootout 90-82 to SF State. The battle in the paint was split evenly between both squads as the Gators outscored the Pioneers in paint points 34-28, but East Bay outrebounded SF State 41-36 and outscored them in second chance points 15-10.
 
The East Bay bench outscored the SF State bench by 14 (35-21) led by junior guard Drew Bender career high 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting and 5-for-6 accuracy from three-point range. Bender was an offensive force tonight, routinely hitting timely buckets for the Pioneers down the stretch. Bender added one rebound and one block in 25 minutes on the floor.
 
PIONEER POINTS
East Bay has two players in the top seven in scoring in the CCAA with senior Micah Dunhour currently 4th in the conference with 16.0 on 46.6 percent shooting from the field, which ranks 7th. He is also 9th in the CCAA grabbing 6.6 board per game. He is 8th in the conference with 31.6 minutes per game.
 
Dunhour leads East Bay with six double doubles on the season and has scored in double figures in 22 out of the Pioneers last 26 games. He is putting in 15.9 points per contest in conference action.
 
Senior guard Jalen Richard is 7th in the CCAA scoring at a 15.0 point per game clip. He is 18th in the conference racking up 5.8 boards per contest. He sits 5th in the CCAA playing 33.0 minutes per game. Richard is also shooting 36.6 percent from three-point land, with is 5th in the conference.
 
Richard is 3rd in the CCAA in conference scoring with 16.6 points per outing and has scored in double figures in 18 of the last 23 East Bay games. He has moved to seventh all time in three-pointers made in a career with 116. He is 75 points away from becoming a top ten scorer in Pioneer history.
 
Sophomore point guard Juwan Anderson is 2nd in the CCAA with 5.0 assists and a 3.0 assist to turnover ratio, which leads the conference. Anderson has 121 assists and only 41 turnovers so far on the season. Anderson is within striking distance of the school season record of 150. He is averaging 5.1 assists in CCAA action.
 
Anderson is adding 7.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals. He is shooting 85.7 percent from the charity stripe.
 
Freshman wing Druce Asah is putting in a 10.4 points point game on 41.7 percent accuracy from the field, including 39.2 percent shooting from three-point range, 4th in the CCAA. Asah is averaging 1.9 made three-pointers per outing.
 
Senior Pierre Carter is leading the Pioneer bench with 7.3 points and 2.5 rebounds on 38.4 percent shooting from the floor in 23.9 minutes of action per game.
 
Junior Drew Bender is propelling the Pioneer bench with 6.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. Bender is tied for the team lead shooting 85.7 percent from the free throw line.
 
Junior Center Kyle Frakes leads East Bay, shooting 63.5 percent from the field. Frakes is compiling 5.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest. Frakes has now moved into the top ten for career blocked shots (50) making him 8th all-time.
 
East Bay is 6th in the CCAA in scoring offense averaging 72.63 points per contest. The Pioneers are 10th in scoring defense allowing 73.0 points from opponents.
 
The Pioneers are 10th in the CCAA in field goal percentage, shooting 42.8 percent from the floor as a team.
 
CSUEB is 4th in the conference with 215 three-pointers made so far this season and sits 3rd in three-point field goal percentage defense holding opponents to 32.2 percent from long range.
 
East Bay is shooting 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, 7th in the CCAA. The Pioneers are averaging 8.6 made three-pointers per game, 4th in the conference.
 
The Pioneers are 7th in the conference in free throw percentage connecting on 70.0 percent of their foul shots as a team.
 
East Bay is also 7th in rebounding defense, grabbing 33.3 rebounds per game.
 
The Pioneers are 6th in the CCAA averaging 13.0 assists per game, with 327 total and are 7th in the conference with 5.6 steals per outing, including 140 total. 
 
SCOUTING CAL STATE SAN MARCOS
The Cal State San Marcos Cougars enter the meeting with the Pioneers with a 11-6 in CCAA play and a 17-8 mark overall. San Marcos defeated Cal State Monterey Bay 77-64 at home on Thursday night. Ethan Alvano, two-time CCAA Player of the Week and reigning CCAA Player of the Week, leads the Cougars with 16.8 points and 5.6 assists per outing. Joe Boyd is adding 13.9 points and grabbing 10.5 boards for San Marcos.